Study ranks San Diego’s most dangerous school zones

SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - A new study ranks elementary school neighborhoods with the most vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian collisions.

A local computer firm crunched the numbers to reveal San Diego's most dangerous school zones.

Every parent wants to make sure their kids are safe going to and from school, which is why the project manager of 1Point21 Interactive in Scripps Ranch wanted to know the facts about traffic, bicycle and pedestrian accidents near schools.

“The main catalyst for this project was I drive by a school almost every day on my way to work and it feels chaotic. It feels like someone's going to be hit by a car almost every day and I wanted to know how often it really happened,” said project manager Brian Beltz.

The computer team compiled the total number of accidents within a half mile radius of all the elementary schools in California.

“We weighted pedestrian and bicycle accidents much more heavy in our rankings and analysis because those have the most direct bearing on safety for kids walking to school,” said Beltz.

As you might expect, the most dangerous neighborhoods are in urban areas.

In San Diego county, the three most dangerous elementary school neighborhoods were surrounding Urban Discovery Academy, a charter school in downtown San Diego; Central Elementary near University Ave. and Interstate 15; and Euclid Elementary in City Heights.

The CEO of Urban Discovery Academy in the county's most dangerous school zone was quick to point out the ranking does not mean her students aren't safe.

“We're downtown so we have a lot of freeways very close to us and downtown traffic close to us. So, it's really not a surprise to us that there are naturally a lot of collisions,” said the school’s CEO Jenni Owen.

Indeed, San Diego’s safest school zones, according to the study, are in rural, residential neighborhoods.

Schools like Warner Springs Elementary, Spencer Valley Elementary in Wynola, and Longfellow Elementary in Bay Park had zero traffic accidents during 2015, the most recent year that data were available.

The best advice for parents is to have a safety plan. Don’t let children under age 10 walk to school alone. Keep kids on a designated route with a minimum number of street crossings. And, only cross the street at marked crosswalks.

Here's the entire ranking list for all elementary schools in San Diego County: